AI Violates Women

I’m an AI hater and I always have been and I always will be. I find it pretty easy not to use in my everyday life – Gemini and Grock and Bixby and ChatGPT and blah blah blah, ignore ignore. I try to zone out whenever the topic comes up because I need to protect my own mental sanity and avoid coming across as an aggressive hysterical woke woman. It’s just too exhausting to rise to the ragebait every time.

But once in a while, an extra-special brand of fucked up comes along to disturb my peace and boil my blood, and boy was this one special! Entertainment news site Deadline recently reported on new AI actress Tilly Norwood being in talks with various talent agencies. Yup, you read that right: “AI actress,” whatever the fuck that means. Tilly Norwood is the brainchild (haha) of actress and comedian (ha… ha?) Eline Van Der Velden, whose recently launched AI talent studio Xicoia is working alongside Van Der Velden’s other AI production company Particle6 to create “hyperreal digital stars” and just generally bring about the end times.

Reading this article feels something like being punched repeatedly in the stomach. Deadline cheerfully reports on the company’s goal to suck the joy out of the entertainment industry: 

Xicoia is focused on creating AI talent for use in everything from film and TV productions to podcasts, TikTok, YouTube, brand campaigns and video games – as well as interactions with fans. Operating on a hybrid model of human creative oversight and autonomous AI responsiveness, they’ll come equipped with complete backstories, distinct voices, evolving narrative arcs and fully realized personalities, as well as the ability to engage in unscripted conversations, perform monologues, respond to trends in real time and adapt tone and references to suit platform-specific audiences.”

I’m pretty sure none of those words are in the Bible. But omigod, wouldn’t it be so fun to form a parasocial relationship with Tilly Norwood 🤪 Well guess what? You already can! Because “her” Instagram account is live – see this quirky, girl-next-door “actress” for yourself!

Tilly’s “complete backstory” and “distinct voice” seems to be a caricature of the typical struggling uni student/aspiring actress. Posts about how “she” loves clothes but can’t afford the designer brands, how messy “her” room gets during late night study sessions, and how much “she” loooooves iced coffee hashtag ootd hashtag student life hashtag autumn delusion!!!!! Isn’t “she” just soooooo cute and chaotic and hashtag relatable???

On the one hand: yes, social media is a fabricated performance we all take part in and maybe you could read this as a comment on digital footprints or whatever. But on the other, more compelling hand: DIE DIE DIE YOU’RE NOT AN ACTRESS YOU’RE NOT IN LONDON CAFES I DON’T CARE ABOUT YOUR STUPID FAKE LITTLE POSTS YOU ARE NOT REAL!!!!!!!!! It is genuinely sickening to watch this fucked up technology steal from the millions of young women and girls trying to find and express themselves on this digital behemoth that has shaped their body image/mental health/social understanding/entire LIVES, and feed it right back into the system. This parody of womanhood is disgusting and made all the more shameful by the fact that it was created BY A WOMAN????? Eline Van Der Velden when I find you!!

The only cathartic outlet on Tilly’s posts is reading the comment section, and thank god every single comment is vehemently against this dystopian nonsense. But this doesn’t seem to be reflective of the entire population, and just like that the catharsis drains away. While I was busy trying not to puke all over “her” Instagram profile, I watched Tilly’s follower count go from 23.1k to 23.3k in a matter of minutes. As of posting this (about a day later), it’s at 36.5k. I wish I could believe that these new followers are bots as well and they can all have a little virtual party or whatever the fuck. But I know that’s not true. For some reason that I cannot fathom, people are embracing AI, unthinking and excited about this new, janky technology.

Among the fifteen posts on this account is a video where Tilly stars in a “new comedy sketch that playfully explores the future of TV development” (“her” words). The premise seems to be about some producers pitching a show to BBC 2 but being turned down because the network has already got AI to program, write, cast and produce all of their shows for the rest of eternity. Go home humans! The robots have it covered. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think the message here was anti-AI because the video is basically a disjointed mishmash of short “scenes” and every single joke falls flat. But “at least it wasn’t another reboot!” as some AI fucker getting into his shiny AI car says at the end of the video.

As I was struggling to keep up with this bizarre sketch (maybe it’s just too advanced for my poor little human brain to comprehend), two lines jumped out at me. The first was when this revolutionary “AI television show” was introduced: a bald, middle-aged man holding a coffee cup and half-eaten burrito says of the show, “It cast and budgeted itself – only bit it struggled with was consent in romantic scenes. We just ignored that.” I… beg your pardon? The second is when Tilly arrives as the “star” of this show: we see a young man sitting at a desk covered in dirty mugs and takeaway containers, with what looks like audio software open on his monitor. Presumably he is inputting the prompts for Tilly, because he says bashfully, “She’ll do anything I say – I’m already in love.”

It’s no coincidence that both of these quotes are from men. I mean, I don’t know their pronouns, so I guess I am assuming these AI characters’ genders – sorry fellas, my bad. What I mean is it’s no coincidence that the AI software used for this sketch constructed these “characters” to look like men and then had them say those things. I can only hope that this script was written by real people (it definitely wasn’t). Because what’s scarier than the thought of a human being putting these words to paper – or more likely to screen – is the fact that AI technology is being trained on the work and ideas of a world that is rampant with misogyny and rape culture. Not to mention racism, homophobia, ableism, fatphobia, classism, transphobia – the list goes on and on and on. This is what AI “thinks” is funny! Are we really happy to plug this robot full of all the sins and violence of humankind? Guys maybe I’m being overly cautious but I’m sort of not sure that’s the best idea…

I don’t recommend you watch the sketch because it’s more blaring ragebait than playful parody, but if you’re morbidly curious like I was, the full video is below.

What really makes me laugh (read: scream into my fucking pillow) is the statement that starts off the sketch: “The video you’re about to view is 100% AI Generated. No humans (or bears!) were harmed in the making of this production.” Aw, that’s so good to know! So while you DID waste tons of perfectly good drinking water and stole the likenesses of an unknown number of real people to make these “characters” as well as plagiarising the writing of ACTUAL CREATIVES to put together this hackneyed and offensive script, at least you didn’t physically punch anyone in the face!!

Harm goes beyond the physical. Tilly Norwood perpetuates a deeply-rooted, sinister harm that has only grown with the introduction of AI technology. The idea that a real woman could lose out on a job because an “AI actress” is easier to work with (read: doesn’t need to give consent)? Cinema’s male gaze that has historically fetishized and violated women’s bodies through the camera, now able to create infinite images at the viewer’s request? The ease with which men can create and share deepfake nudes of the women in their lives, or offenders can watch all the child pornography they desire?? Could it all be connected??

After the unveiling of her “creation” was met with – shock! – backlash from many actors and people in the industry, Eline Van Der Velden released a statement, posted to Tilly’s Instagram account. In it, she claims that Tilly is a “piece of art” not meant to replace humans but to spark conversations, “and that in itself shows the power of creativity.” Girl… no. She compares AI to animation, puppetry, and CGI and argues that her work “has always been about holding up a mirror to society through satire, and this is no different.” I’m sorry, is the satire in the room with us now??? Because I have no fucking clue what you’re saying and I wouldn’t be surprised if you got AI to write this statement too.

On one of Deadline’s original posts about Tilly, actress Chelsea Edmundson commented: “Not surprised that the first “AI Actor” is a young woman that they can fully control and make do whatever they want.” And it’s not surprising; it’s exhausting and infuriating and utterly demoralising, but not surprising. Because Tilly Norwood is not a cutesy, harmless girl-next-door. Whether Van Der Velden intended it or not, this “AI actress” is a weapon that will be used to further the violent manipulation of women and minority groups. Was it not enough to have this oppression ingrained in our history, our language, our economy, our clothing, our education, our homes, our social media, our professions, our relationships, our culture?? You had to get the fucking robots on board too.

I dunno, maybe I’m overreacting. Classic aggressive hysterical woke woman, am I right?